The American League All-Star tallies were released Tuesday and like in all things except the adoption of the DH, the National League wasn’t far behind, coming out on Wednesday. Much like in the AL, we see a small number of teams dominating the field, but here it could be considered a little more legitimate.
The primary team with the voting advantage right now is the Chicago Cubs and why not? They are the best team in baseball, currently sporting a .700 winning percentage and hold the top two position players in the NL in fWAR. They also have three of the top eight in RBI and runs scored for you more old fashioned fellows. The fact is, they are a monster of a team and have some monster players putting up some incredible numbers. For this, they must be acknowledged and currently, Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist, Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, and Dexter Fowler are all leading at their positions with Miguel Montero coming in third among catchers and Jason Heyward and Jorge Soler in the top six among outfielders.
Since the Cubs dominate the voting so much, it seems prudent to see which are deserving and which aren’t before looking at any players who could have been snubbed by the overwhelming support for the North Siders. The first to check off the list are Fowler and Zobrist, currently 1 and 2 in NL fWAR overall and first at their positions. They also both have the highly coveted .300+ average (both above .315 even) and each has scored more than 30 runs with Zobrist knocking in 35 as well.
Fresh off his Rookie of the Year campaign, Bryant is well deserving as well although he isn’t hitting over that magical .300 mark. He is, however, slugging .500, just like both of the previously mentioned Cubs and has more home runs (11), runs scored (37), and RBI (37). This is the last of the obviously good choices from Chicago.
At first, Paul Goldschmidt and Brandon Belt, currently second and fourth, deserve more consideration as the only way Rizzo is particularly better is in total home runs and if you are just judging that, Chris Carter of Milwaukee has more than anyone (13). Matt Adams of the Cardinals is a real snub here, not appearing in the top five despite one of the best batting lines among NL first basemen at .315/.369/.559.
Over at shortstop, Russell doesn’t have any claim to the spot. Corey Seager leads the NL in SS fWAR (Russell is 6th) and has a .278/.333/.474 line while playing excellent defense, all these at superior levels to Russell. Seager isn’t even in the top five of voting while another good option, Brandon Crawford, is in fourth. Two rookies other than Seager are also deserving, one being the second vote getter Trevor Story, who leads all shortstops with 14 home runs, the other being Aledmys Diaz. Diaz is taking over for the injured Jhonny Peralta in St. Louis, but while Peralta hasn’t played a game this year and Diaz has played at a high level (.330/.363/.545) through 50, it is Peralta on the All-Star ballot meaning that Diaz doesn’t have a chance in the fan vote.
In the outfield may be the biggest snub of all, although the aforementioned Fowler and Bryce Harper are fine selections. Yoenis Cespedes shouldn’t be anywhere near this thing, yet he sits comfortably in third. Who is not among the top 15 however? Gregory Polanco of the Pirates, currently batting .310/.386/.556 with 38 runs scored and 36 RBI. Also left out entirely are Marcell Ozuna and Odubel Herrera with the also well deserving Stephen Piscotty and Starling Marte found further down the list. More than any other position, this group reads like a list of players who have been really good rather than those who are currently having All-Star caliber seasons.
Finally, the nearest thing to a Cubs free position is catcher, where the Cardinals’ Yadier Molina holds a slight lead over Buster Posey. While Posey is a good choice, the NL could do better than Molina, who is like the last position, getting more votes based on history than his current season. Unfortunately here, one of the best options is Chris Herrmann of the Diamondbacks and he is not on the ballot. It is possible, however, that people are voting for Wellington Castillo thinking it is Herrman as the DBacks other catcher is currently in fourth.
What is a bigger surprise is that Jonathan Lucroy, who is first among NL catchers in home runs, RBI, runs scored and fWAR, is not among the top five. If Cubs fans could bare the thought of voting for someone outside of Chicago, Lucroy would be a great pick. He’s deserving and Montero isn’t going to win this one anyway. Besides, it could help keep a Cardinals player from some glory, so what’s not to like about that?
